BIA list of casino land-into-trust applications approved since 1988

Tuesday, June 29, 2010  

Following a memo from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar regarding off-reservation gaming, the Bureau of Indian Affairs provided a list of gaming land acquisitions approved since the enactment of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act on October 17, 1988.

The first five on the list are tribes that received federal approval for a two part-determination. But in he final two cases, the state governor did not concur, so the tribe was unable to open an off-reservation casino.

"Given the complicated issues that applications of this nature raise, and the various levels of review and approval involved, they have been approved rarely despite a number of submissions over the years," Salazar noted in his memo.

The remaining 36 on the list are tribes that qualified for an exception under Section 20 of IGRA. The exceptions allow newly recognized tribes, tribes with land claims or tribes with land contiguous to an existing reservation and tribes with a "last recognized reservation" to open casinos on land acquired after 1988. There's also a special exception that affects only Oklahoma tribes.

"These exceptions too are rare, as in the 20 years since IGRA was enacted, there have only been 36 applications approved under these exceptions," Salazar said.

The list is not exhaustive. For example, a tribe that received a favorable Indian land opinion from the National Indian Gaming Commission might not appear on the BIA's list if the tribe did not submit a land-into-trust application in connection with the casino.

Relevant Documents:
APPROVED GAMING ACQUISITIONS SINCE ENACTMENT OF IGRA OCTOBER 17, 1988 (June 28, 2010)

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